Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 13, 2015

In my years of advising startups and occasional investing, I’ve seen many great ideas start and fail, but the right team always seems to make good things happen, even without the ultimate idea. You need to have a technical genius on the team to get your startup product off the ground. Outsourcing your core competency does not work.

Technical Advisors 105

Technical Advisors Outsource Development Startup High Tech 105

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 28, 2014

But what IS the right amount of burn for a company? Burn rate in case you don’t know is the amount of money a company is either spending (gross) or losing (net) per month. (it Conversely if you’re burning $600,000 per month (yes, some companies do) then you only have 5 months of cash left. Gross Burn vs. Net Burn.

Startup 383

Startup Company Companies .Net 383

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 6, 2021

Based on my experience advising new entrepreneurs as well as more mature businesses, I recommend the following strategies for building business momentum, while still optimizing the limited resources of every small business: Find more customers that like what you do best. The company has since gone public, and is still a market leader.

Technical Review 160

Technical Review Technical Advisors Startup Mentor 160

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 18, 2018

In my years of advising startups and occasional investing, I’ve seen many great ideas start and fail, but the right team always seems to make good things happen, even without the ultimate idea. You need to have a technical genius on the team to get your startup product off the ground. Outsourcing your core competency does not work.

Technical Advisors 57

Technical Advisors Startup Outsource Development High Tech 57

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 5, 2010

The conversations bleed into the sales messages the next time, they wend their way into software designs and form the plan of attach against competition. The best companies are built on common beliefs and culture – a common sense of purpose. If you’re a West Coast company you need people on the East Coast.

Technical Advisors 335

Technical Advisors Outsource Development Offshore Startup 335

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 5, 2018

As a self-made entrepreneur and former chairman of Diamond Resorts International, he asserts that the five biggest companies by market value today, Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Amazon, and Apple, aren’t really tech, but hospitality companies.

Technical Advisors 82

Technical Advisors Artificial Inteligence Customer Custom 82

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 27, 2013

You have to get past how great the product is to address clearly what your business rationale is, why it is different from the competition''s, and why it will succeed. Show focus and your understanding that your company is something more than just a good idea. Here, too, focus on outside advisers as well as on key executives.

Technical Advisors 75

Technical Advisors Entrepreneur Equity Ideas 75

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 1, 2019

Steve Jobs started his technical career creating circuit boards at Atari, before joining Steve Wozniak to build personal computers in his garage. Get out of dead-end jobs, and don’t be afraid to move on to a new company if the current one is not healthy. Recognize career growth requires changing with the business.

Technical Advisors 75

Technical Advisors Startup Satisfaction Customer 75

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 27, 2016

For a software startup, a patent can be the intellectual property providing the key competitive advantage, or it can be an expensive non-defensible bureaucratic nightmare -- or both. The reason that lawyers get large fees for patent filings is that legal negotiation and strategy have become more important than technical merit.

Patents 53

Patents Software Review Software Technical Advisors 53

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 30, 2010

You have to get past how great the product is to address clearly what your business rationale is, why it is different from the competition's, and why it will succeed. Show focus and your understanding that your company is something more than just a good idea. Here, too, focus on outside advisers as well as on key executives.

Technical Advisors 80

Technical Advisors Startup Equity Ideas 80

Tech.Co

MAY 22, 2018

I’ve had many startup founders tell me that their startup literally has no competition,” said Frank Gruber, Cofounder of Tech.Co, Startup of the Year , and Established. “In What startup teams don’t realize is that having competition is good. I would advise trying not to get into an argument with an investor.

Tips 70

Tips Help Slides Technical Review 70

Tech Zulu Event

JULY 28, 2012

For those who haven’t heard of what Startup Weekend is all about, it’s building a company on STEROIDS! From visualization to conception, and actually taking the product to market, a company usually takes about 1-2 years to create. Once the pitches were done we were given a cup and paper with our company name on it.

Startup 99

Startup Technical Advisors Ideas USC 99

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 10, 2011

I was once asked by a top executive of a major software company why we were not selling more products in Finland. Companies became creative by selling and trading foreign exchange licenses. We retained legal council in Milan and were advised that we would loose if the case went to trial. HR rules are local.

Startup 90

Startup Technical Advisors Sales Examples 90

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 13, 2011

Bijan Sabet – investor & board member in some small companies you might have heard of like Twitter, Tumblr, Boxee & OMGPOP – took issue with the whole notion that you even need a Powerpoint deck anymore. First, if it’s an early stage company, I don’t need to see a powerpoint deck. I funded them 8 weeks later.

Venture Capital 299

Venture Capital Slides Technical Advisors Startup 299

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 25, 2010

When I was raising money for my first company we had closed a seed round in 1999 and were working on our A round. But we weren’t optimizing for dilution – we were building a $1 billion+ company and we wanted the runway to succeed. Many companies that were in the process of raising money did not. Let me start with a story.

Venture Capital 301

Venture Capital Technical Review Startup Technical Advisors 301

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 13, 2010

I was once asked by a division manager of a major software company why we were not selling more products in Finland. Companies became creative by selling and trading foreign exchange licenses. We retained legal council in Milan and were advised that we would loose if the case went to trial.

Technical Advisors 48

Technical Advisors Sales Startup Coach 48

Xconomy

SEPTEMBER 29, 2016

Each company is investing untold billions of dollars in developing AI technologies, betting on a future defined by computer systems that can perceive, reason, advise, and decide. As the technology has advanced, so has the competitive landscape. The partnership is not set up as a lobbying organization.

Artificial Inteligence 40

Artificial Inteligence Technical Review Technical Advisors Research 40

Tech Zulu Event

MAY 10, 2012

Effects Artist and Technical Director, Dreamworks AnimationJason hails from Kentucky, where his parents met at a Renaissance Faire, hooked up at the Wicca Coven, and raised him at sci-fi conventions. Bushnell has started more than twenty companies and is one of the founding fathers of the video game industry. 12pm: BODY.

Technical Advisors 89

Technical Advisors Design Education Study 89

InfoChachkie

JUNE 25, 2009

Such attorneys can also add tremendous value in your negotiations with Big Dumb Companies (BDCs), as they can ensure that you focus on the deal points that are of most significance to a small entity. Your lawyer is a trusted advisor, but in the end, you run your business, your lawyer does not.

Technical Advisors 124

Technical Advisors Technical Review IP Patents 124

Frank Addante

JUNE 4, 2006

. ► November (1) 2 Ears and 1 Mouth: There's a Reason ► October (2) Be Best at Something Tear Down Your Firewalls ► September (3) Elements of Sustainable Companies We're Not Saving Lives. Web Development & Marketing Technology) Exit: evolved into L90 (next company) Lesson: What you dont know cant stop you.

Startup 40

Startup Venture Capital Email CTO Hire 40

Frank Addante

MAY 15, 2006

. ► November (1) 2 Ears and 1 Mouth: There's a Reason ► October (2) Be Best at Something Tear Down Your Firewalls ► September (3) Elements of Sustainable Companies We're Not Saving Lives. Web Development & Marketing Technology) Exit: evolved into L90 (next company) Lesson: What you dont know cant stop you.

Advertising 40

Advertising Startup Chief Technology Officer Technical Review 40